The present invention relates generally to the field of application performance management, and more particularly to a dynamic boundary based approach for monitoring and metering.
In the fields of information technology (IT) and systems management, application performance management (APM) is the monitoring and management of performance and availability of software applications. APM strives to detect and diagnose application performance problems to maintain an expected level of service. APM is the translation of information technology metrics into business meaning (i.e., value).
Software metering refers to several areas. First, software metering tracks and maintains software licenses. One needs to make sure that only the allowed number of licenses are in use, and, at the same time, that there are enough licenses for each use. The tracking can include monitoring of concurrent usage of software for real-time enforcement of license limits. Such license monitoring usually includes when a license needs to be updated due to version changes or when upgrades or rebates are possible. Second, software metering may include real-time monitoring of all (or selected) applications running on a computer or computers in order to detect unregistered or unlicensed software and prevent its execution, or limit its execution to within certain hours. The systems administrator can configure the software metering agent on each computer in the organization, for example, to prohibit the execution of gaming software, for example, between the hours of 9 A.M. and 5 P.M. Third, software metering may include fixed planning to allocate software usage to computers according to the policies an organization specifies and to maintain a record of usage and attempted usage. An organization can check out and check in licenses for mobile users and can also keep a record of all licenses in use. Fixed planning is often used when limited license counts are available to avoid violating strict license controls. Finally, software metering may include a method of software licensing where the licensed software automatically records how many times, or for how long, one or more functions in the software are used, and the user pays fees based on the actual usage (also known as pay-per-use).
One of the main functions of most software metering programs is to keep track of the software usage statistics within an organization. Software metering assists the IT departments in keeping track of licensed software, which is often from multiple software vendors. Desktop or network based software metering packages can provide an inventory of software, give details of all the software installed in the network with the total number of copies with the usage details of each software, and even track metrics of software use, such as: how often the software is used by a particular department, the peak times the software is being utilized, and what add-ons are being utilized with the software. The possible savings on the cost of renewing the licenses of rarely used programs can be well worth the cost of the software.